10 November, 2006 | Leave a Comment
At newsstands all over Paris, there are giant posters on display of this magazine cover:
The first time I saw a poster of this cover at a newsstand last week, I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, aghast. This is the latest issue of Score, a cinema magazine. The battered beauty is international sex symbol Monica Bellucci, who is publicizing her new film Le Concile de Pierre. The cover states: “Monica Bellucci in hostile territory. Chic actress and shocking photos. In Le Concile de Pierre, she passes from a seductress to a woman of action.” There’s an even more disturbing photo inside, accompanying the article that is entitled “Raging Belle.”
I probably don’t need to point out how disturbing it is that a battered woman is being presented in such a glamorous way. Given the way Bellucci is styled — with her perfect hair, make-up and couture — the only conclusion one can draw is that a bruised and bloodied woman is sexy. Some tiresome people will argue that in the new film, Bellucci is an action heroine, that she’s tough and that this just proves women aren’t delicate creatures but can kick butt just like men. Hail feminism! (I can always predict such arguments — they’re so…predictable.) To me, that’s just a bullshit rationalization for cheap shock value and publicity that is highly irresponsible and repugnant. If she’s so tough, she sure got an ass whooping from somebody. The message this sends to the countless children and teens who are seeing this image on posters all over town is that women are victims, that if you’re a girl you should expect to be beaten up, that suffering is female, that violence against women is acceptable. If this offends you, you can write to Score Magazine at: contact@score.fr. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know French. I guarantee you that members of their staff speak fluent English. If nothing else, send them a link to this post.
And while I’m on this topic of violence against women, there are movie ads for The Black Dahlia all over town — everywhere. I snapped this photo in the métro station the other night — the third one I’d seen in less than an hour:
In this ad, we see a dead woman portrayed as an object of beauty and lust. The dead woman in question is Elizabeth Short, aka Black Dahlia. She was murdered in horrific fashion (and presumably raped and tortured first). Her corpse — which was chopped in half and mutilated — was dumped in a vacant lot. To me, this just screams sexy!
The fact that Elizabeth Short — a real woman who died a savage death — is being portrayed like this is disgusting and shameful. I don’t know about you other ladies out there, but if I ever have the misfortune to be tortured to death and mutilated by a psychopath, I hope a salacious movie is made of my life and that perverts around the world enjoy getting off while looking at glam images of my rotting corpse.
We never see sexy images of men who’ve been beaten or killed like this — why not? Because those pictures don’t sell magazines or movie tickets. But images of suffering, beaten or glamorously dead women are titillating, apparently. When we view such images, we assume that a man inflicted the violence or death upon the woman. Therefore, for many twisted individuals, such images reinforce notions of (perceived) male physical power over women and of women’s status as helpless victims. The dynamics here are much the same as with pornography — the dehumanization and degradation of women that results in sexual gratification for the viewer. (The kind of viewer, I might add, who would be aroused by the sight of a dead woman because no woman with a pulse would have him.) In many ways, these images are worse than pornography because they’re dressed up as something of artistic value. But underneath the Hollywood veneer, they’re nothing more than trash designed to play on the viewer’s base impulses.
Tags: Score Magazine, Monica Bellucci, Black Dahlia, le Dahlia Noir, violence, pornography
Anglofille said @ 1:39 am | feminism, pop culture |
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michele Says:
November 11th, 2006 at 11:55 amthe score magazine cover is disturbing. i wrote them an e-mail. i’m sure it won’t do any good but it made me feel better to vent at them!
i like your blog too!
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Roz Says:
November 11th, 2006 at 10:36 pmShouldn’t the issue be about violence in it’s totality? You seem to be saying that violence against men is not such a big deal. Statistically, men are far more likely to be a victim of violent crime than women, specifically black men between 15 and 30 years of age.
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I never wrote that violence against men is not a big deal. I wrote that violence against men is not made sexy and erotic by the media and the entertainment industry the way violence against women is. Violence against men may be glorified in other ways, such as in rap music, but it doesn’t have this sexualized component.
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What’s interesting to me from a scholarly standpoint is the way that these images fit right in line with the grand Surrealist tradition of presenting the female body in fragments, and the justaposition of violent cutting with slices of female anatomy.
My reading of this surrealist trope (and I’m not alone in this) is that it’s about bringing the threatening female body under control. (There’s so much feminist scholarship that’s been done in this area, but I particularly like Xaviere Gauthier’s book, Sexualité et surréalisme.)
As far as the posters go, I think the Bellucci shot is probably more about pushing the envelope, doing something new and interesting with the iconic actress. Bloodying her up, though, is extremely reminiscient of the surrealist enterprise: she is too beautiful, we have to rough her up a bit to make her more interesting.
And the Black Dahlia shot… pure unadulterated fin-de-siecle decadence. Death more beautiful and perfect than life. Cf Salome et Aubrey Beardsley!
(God I love a blog that makes me cite. Thank you Anglofille)
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Glad to be of service. But your analysis was much more insightful than my rant. I especially liked your point about bringing the female body under control. That’s a fascinating insight.
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Luis Says:
December 3rd, 2006 at 12:35 amWell I got a knee-jerk reaction when I saw the cover (of Monica Bellucci), but then you said it was about an action film, so I don’t see what the big deal is I mean, Bruce Willis always got torn up in Die Hard and I don’t see you complaining about it. You think just because she looks bruised that means she’s a victim? I’ve gotten a few teeth knocked out of me and I don’t consider myself one. Bruised, bloody, sweaty, muscular men can sell action flicks but bruised bloody sexy women can’t? It sounds like a double standard.
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She has perfect hair and make-up and she’s wearing an evening gown. I don’t think a woman who was out performing her action heroine duties would look this polished and perfect. This cover is making brutality appear sexy and alluring. That sends a very disturbing message.
But I could never see the point of tuna and sweet corn...
